A few weeks before John S. Kleshinski died, he heard a knock at the door of his hotel room in Ohio, where he was helping his best friend campaign for the US Senate.

In the hall stood a chambermaid, who asked if he wanted his bed turned down. He declined, but gave her $20 anyway -- a characteristic gesture from a man so grateful for his financial success that he tipped big and tipped everyone, even the ushers and hot dog vendors at baseball games.

Surprised at his generosity, she said, "I have to do something for you," according to his friend Sherrod Brown. And he said, "Just pray for me."

The woman asked for his name and said, "I'll pray for you, John," Brown recalled.

"John said she walked away feeling a little empowered. He really noticed people who are too invisible in society," said Brown.

Mr. Kleshinski, a philanthropist since retiring in his late 40s, died of a heart attack while sleeping in his Chatham home Nov. 29. He was 55 and was president of the board of the Community Music Center of Boston.

"John really believed that the wealth he had accumulated was not his to keep," said Brown, the US representative who was elected to the Senate last month. "It was given to him to pass on, so he did all the time."

"He loved to say he was just a poor boy from Ohio stumbling through life," said Mr. Kleshinski's wife, Emily Paul. "He felt very humbled by his good fortune."

Just as humbled by the positions he held, Mr. Kleshinski was a board president who made sure he knew the first names of the Community Music Center's teachers, one of whom was his own. A dozen years ago, his wife gave him five piano lessons at the center as a Valentine's Day gift. "He said he'd always wanted to learn to make music on his own," she said. "He grew up in a family that couldn't afford music lessons."

For 12 years he stayed with the same teacher. Even after acquiring the title of board president two years ago he shared the stage with other students, young and old, at recitals.

"I always said he was the only one there without a mommy," his wife said.

"He was always extremely nervous," said David Lapin, the center's executive director. "You could see his hands shaking before his fingers even hit the keys."

Mr. Kleshinski was more at ease once his turn had passed, cheering on his compatriots.

"He never envied anyone, even an 8- or 9-year-old who played better," Lapin said. "He was always their biggest fan."

Mr. Kleshinski, a native of Mansfield, Ohio, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 13.

"When he first moved to Boston, he lived on Beacon Hill and we used to walk to Fenway," Brown said. "He told me about when he was growing up. He said if you're diagnosed at that age, you don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't stay out late -- you have to become more disciplined as a teenager."

Smitten by politics early, Mr. Kleshinski was student body president at John Carroll University in Cleveland. With a name that immediately identified his Polish heritage, he campaigned with the slogan, "A Pole you can lean on."

He received a master's degree in business administration from Xavier University and lived at first in his hometown, where he served on the City Council. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Boston and worked for Medco Containment Services, where he sold group health insurance to large firms. His success there and stock investments allowed him to retire young and concentrate on interests such as the music center and the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans, where he was on the board of trustees.

Mr. Kleshinski and Paul met through mutual friends in 1988 and married a few years later. When he turned his attention to philanthropy, "he always told me he wanted to share what he had with others," she said. "He didn't think he deserved it any more than the next person."

An optimist by nature, Mr. Kleshinski "tried to find something every day to be joyful about," his wife said. "he just lived and died by sports, especially."

"He loved watching the Indians win at Fenway," Brown said, "although that didn't often happen."

During his eulogy at a funeral Mass in Mansfield last week, Brown mentioned that when he married, he asked his friend to take part in the ceremony and read from the Beatitudes.

"John preferred to walk among the meek and the peacemakers, among those who mourn and those who thirst for righteousness," Brown said at the Mass. "He cared far more about being a warrior for social justice than to walk among the rich and powerful."

In addition to his wife, Mr. Kleshinski leaves his parents, Sylvester and Magdalen of Mansfield, Ohio; two brothers, Francis X. of Jeannette, Pa., and Stephen J. of Los Gatos, Calif.; and a sister, Catherine Stout of Mansfield.

A memorial service will held at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Wimberly Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion at Boston Center for the Arts. 

When Connie and I were in Boston for the 2004 Democratic convention, when the Red Sox were on the road, we had a chance to go on the field at Fenway.  Of course we invited John to join us.  John was waiting at the gate -- had been there for maybe a half hour -- with his old baseball glove, wearing the cap of our beloved Cleveland Indians.  He couldn't wait to go out on the field and touch -- just touch -- the Green Monster.

How could you not feel younger around John?  John traveled around Ohio with Connie and me in the last two weeks of our Senate race. Every morning he would show up at our house and say, "Man, this is like a party."

He never apologized for his enthusiasm. Here was a guy who -- at the age of 55 -- was still taking piano lessons and who had had his first piano recital in his 50s.

But that wasn't enough. If piano lessons -- if opening HIS soul to music -- could mean so much to HIM, why not help others have the same opportunities?  He would make it his mission to help hundreds of children make the same discovery, enjoy the same thrill.  In a few years, he had become the Chairman of the Community Music Center.  The head of the Center told Connie that John always had a vision, always had ideas about how to give those same opportunities to even more children.

If sitting on the shore at the Cape and looking at the ocean at sundown gave him a terrific appreciation of nature, why not help others have the same opportunities? Why not devote much of his time and money to the Lighthouse School, so children on the cape could learn that same appreciation of nature?

He didn't want to just help people, he wanted to empower them.

He told Connie and me recently that one night, a maid knocked at the door of his hotel room and asked if he wanted the bed turned down. "No thank you, I don't need you to do that," he said, handing her a $20 tip.  Incredulous, she said, "but I need to do something for you then."  "Pray for me," John answered. "What's your name?" she asked. John. "Then I will pray for you, John." She walked away, feeling empowered and knowing she had met someone kind and someone remarkable.

Pure and simple, John Kleshinski was the most generous man I ever met -- generous in spirit, generous with his time, generous in his enthusiasm, and generous to those who needed help.

My daughter Elizabeth recounts a story about John at their place on Cape Cod many years ago. Not wanting, in her words, "to disturb anyone or embarrass myself, I had plugged in the headphones, making what I played (on his piano) audible only to me." John insisted that she take the headphones off.  What I remember she said, was not "just his insistence, but the fact that there was genuine excitement in his voice. He really seemed to want to hear me play-just a small thing to him probably, but it felt huge and very special to me. I played a Bach Prelude in G for him, and he asked me what it was about Bach that I liked. He talked to me about the Music Center he loved and about the piano lessons that Emily had given him."

Although he was elected to the Mansfield Charter Commission and was elected to and served on Mansfield City Council, he much preferred changing the world behind the scenes.

He always thought that the wealth that God had given him -- wealth which he earned through his hard work and smart mind for business -- that wealth was meant to go to others: his dearly beloved music center, scholarships for disadvantaged students, generous tips for maids at hotels and vendors at the Jake, even some to a political candidate or two. . . usually, if a recall, a Democrat.

Everything to John was worth learning about. And everyone to John was worth knowing.  Wealth and status meant so little to John -- for himself and for people whom he met.  Father Borgia, Connie and I asked him to read the Beatitudes at our wedding.  For John preferred to walk among the meek and the peacemakers, among those who mourn and those who thirst for righteousness.  He cared far more about being a warrior for social justice than to walk among the rich and powerful.

He was a walking bundle of love.  Oh how he loved Emily.  And how he loved his parents.  And how he loved Cathy and Steve and Frank.  And how he loved his nieces and nephews and talked about them incessantly.

And everyone -- and I mean everyone -- loved John -- whether you knew him for 30 minutes or 30 years. There was something about John. My two brothers and I always thought that our mom and dad liked John more than they liked us. Our daughter Caitlin seemed to want to hang out with John more than she wanted to see us. And even our pets seemed to take to John more than to me.

He put everyone around him at ease.  He always thought of others first.  He always made people feel better about themselves.

A woman in my office, who was lucky enough to get to know John, wrote to me, "I hope John will help me get to heaven, because I know he's already there."

And John was always learning. When Emily bought him piano lessons one year for Valentine's Day, he practiced and practiced, and then he played in recitals -- always nervous before he played, he said, but always thrilled to get the opportunity. And out of that was born not just a love of music, but a love of the Music Center which touched so many young people and improved their lives.

He always served as a quiet role model -- challenging people by example to do better.  No one tipped more generously -- and more empoweringly -- than did John.  No one so unobtrusively helped family members and friends, new acquaintances and strangers, whenever he could.  And no one could have been -- for 30 glorious years -- a better friend. 

And he always -- in his inimitable way of telling you, with an anecdote or a parable -- he always told you what you needed to hear -- sometimes firmly, sometimes gently, and often with a lesson wrapped in a joke. The last email that John sent me, at 10:50 the night before he died, in response to a note I had sent him about our winning percentage in the Senate race, he retorted, "Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. Wearing an arm cast at a US Senate swearing in would be most awkward and unappealing."

Some politicians have bodyguards.  On Election night, John decided that he should be my bodyguard.  You know,  6'6" 320 pound John Kleshinski.  But boy, he looked tough.  It was so John, always wanting to help.

For four decades, since he was a young teenager, he lived with diabetes. It was important to him that he showed his independence. John knew the risks, yet he chose to live that way. And Emily loved him so much -- and he loved her so much -- that he let him have that independence.  John, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 13, took such good care of himself, and he always knew Emily was only a few seconds away.  They talked several times a day -- every day. "She loves me too much," he often joked, even if he was the one dialing the phone. "I guess I'll have to keep her."

I've aged a lot these last few days -- I think we all have. And John Kleshinski isn't around anymore to make us feel younger.

The Greek poet Aeschylus wrote, "Even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God."
I promise all of you -- if you tell each other stories about John as you did at the funeral home last night, as we all tell about John, and we laugh and think and reflect -- we will again feel younger.

Lucky, lucky us. . . Getting to share part of our lives with John Kleshinski.

Read more about the ad.

As Ohio's intensely fought Senate race comes to a close, one of its great lingering mysteries is why Republican Sen. Mike DeWine chose to ignore a basic principle of campaign strategy: Define your opponent before he defines himself.

From the start of his battle against Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown, DeWine and his team said they fully expected the election to be close. And from the start, DeWine was well positioned to strike pre-emptively. He had more money than Brown. And polls showed voters weren't nearly as familiar with Brown as they were with him.

Yet, inexplicably, DeWine waited until Oct. 27 to release the sort of television ad that might have succeeded in painting an overarching negative portrait of his rival that would stick in voters' guts and serve as a basis for subsequent ads.

...Way back last summer, as soon as DeWine began running predictable ads criticizing Brown's votes on national security, the state Democratic Party financed a blistering ad attacking DeWine. Using video images of DeWine looking confused and clueless, the ad cast DeWine as a frighteningly out-of-touch politician who'd been asleep at the switch in the Senate.

Brown built steadily on the theme throughout the fall, accusing DeWine of missing numerous meetings of the Senate Intelligence Committee and unthinkingly going along with all sorts of Bush administration mistakes: incorrect assessments of Saddam Hussein's weapons arsenal, tax cuts that helped the rich more than the middle class, trade agreements that cost Ohioans jobs and a prescription drug bill too generous to drug companies at the expense of seniors.

And that wasn't all. Brown cast DeWine not merely as clueless, but also as spineless. In Brown's portrayal, DeWine was a limp figure hopelessly in the pockets of people stronger than himself - President Bush, pharmaceutical executives, oil company execs and so on.

Meanwhile, Brown was portraying himself as an outspoken, empathetic politician who would have the guts to fight for ordinary Ohioans in the Senate.

Read the full article. 

Unless two-term Republican Sen. Mike DeWine can pull a stunning turnaround this weekend and persuade a lot more people to vote for him, he is likely to lose on Tuesday to Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown, a pre-election Plain Dealer poll shows.

But whether Democrats would then rule the Senate is uncertain. Polls in the nation's most competitive Senate races show Republicans have gained strength in several close contests. With control of Congress the key prize in Tuesday's elections, the new polls show that neither party at this late point is assured of Senate victory.

"It's very much up for grabs, because you've got at least four races that could go either way," said Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. Mason-Dixon conducted the poll of Ohio for The Plain Dealer and polls of other states for several other news organizations, including MSNBC and McClatchy Newspapers.

In Ohio, Brown has a lead of 6 percentage points, at 50 percent to 44 percent, among likely voters. Five percent of voters were undecided, which is not enough by itself to shift the race to DeWine.

"There's clearly a passion for change out here," Brown said Saturday after he, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland and several other political candidates addressed a packed and cheering crowd of get-out-the-vote volunteers at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Dayton. "You can see it here. I see it in Brown County, which George Bush won almost 2 to 1. I've seen it all over the state.

Read the full article. 

"Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

"This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth:

"Donald Rumsfeld must go."

...The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda provides a scorecard where they track how our legislatures vote on Latino issues. […] For example, last year’s scorecard showed that U.S. Congressman Sherrod Brown (OH-District 13), who is now running for the U.S. Senate, scored a 100% when voting on issues that have an impact on the Latino Community, while U.S. Senator Mike DeWine’s score for 2005 was 50%.

...Getting back to Congressman Sherrod Brown—he has always made it a point to makes sure that his staff had representation from the minority communities. Not long ago, one of his Latino staff members – Diana Meleti – was the 2005 recipient of the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan Award, which is given to a Latino leader who continually dedicates their time to improve the quality of life for Latinos throughout Ohio. In 2004, Brown was given the Nuestro Familia Award which was presented by the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs. This award is given to a non Latino individual or organization that has made a positive impact on the lives of the Latino Community in Ohio. […]
 
I have been privileged to watch many of the candidates who are running for office and I am proud to say that I am most impressed with Ted Strickland, Sherrod Brown, and Betty Sutton (for U.S. Congress).

¡Su voto es su voz!
 
Click here to read to full article.

Ad Text:

The Facts:

"Mike DeWine has reached a new low – attacking Sherrod Brown about an employee in the Secretary of State's office 20 years ago. 

But DeWine's charges are lies."

FACT: Sherrod Brown Took "Decisive Action" to Investigate.

Republican Prosecutor: No Cover-Up.  "There is no evidence of a cover-up of an investigation into possible drug-dealing from the office of Secretary of State Sherrod Brown five years ago, Franklin County Prosecutor Michael Miller said… Miller, a Republican, said that investigators simply  failed to complete their work-- `an honest mistake' -- and waited too long, making prosecution of the felony drug sales now very difficult."  [Akron Beacon-Journal 9/1/90]

Brown Initiated Investigation.  "Patrol records do indicate that Brown was the first to notify law-enforcement officials of possible drug use in his office."  [Dayton Daily News 8/21/90]

Brown's Account Confirmed.  "Secretary of State Sherrod Brown said Friday that he initiated and cooperated in a 1985 drug investigation among his employees and that the case was closed without arrests by law enforcement officials….The decision to close the case was made exclusively by the Ohio Highway Patrol, the Franklin County prosecutor's office and  the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, Brown said.  Highway Safety Director William Denihan, whose department includes the patrol, confirmed Brown's account of investigation."  [Dayton Daily News 6/23/90]

No Charges Were Filed.  "No charges were filed in either case, and news of the undercover drug buy never made it to the prosecutor, Hopkins and Franklin County Prosecutor Michael Miller said."  [Dayton Daily News 7/4/90]

Highway Patrol Failed to Inform Prosecutor.  "The patrol has accepted fault for not telling prosecutors about a mid-August 1985 drug buy"  [Akron Beacon Journal 9/2/90]

Investigators Told Brown Not to Reveal Names.  "Miller said his office was never told that an employee of Brown's office sold drugs to an agent.  Brown said he did not tell anyone because investigators told him they did not want the agent's identity revealed."  [The Cincinnati Post 9/11/90]

"The Dayton Daily News said these allegations have been 'investigated and rejected.'  They called the attack 'junk.'  The Plain Dealer called it "pathetic" and said DeWine's attacks 'smacked of desperation.'"

FACT: Attacks Denounced, Allegations Rejected

Dayton Daily News: Allegations "Junk," "Trumped-Up," "Officially Discredited," and "Full of Baloney." The Dayton Daily News called the allegations against Sherrod Brown "junk," "smut," "sleazy," "trumped-up charges," and "officially discredited." The Dayton Daily News rebuked the Columbus Dispatch's original allegations. "The Columbus Dispatch happens to have been full of baloney."  [Dayton Daily News, 10/18/90; 11/4/90;11/9/90]

Akron Beacon Journal: "No Proof of Impropriety Found in Drug Inquiry in Brown's Office." The Akron Beacon Journal said that there was "no evidence of impropriety" for the charges against Brown. [Akron Beacon Journal, 9/2/90]

Plain Dealer: DeWine's Attacks "Pathetic" and "Smack of Desperation."  "DeWine clearly knows he's about cooked. Some of his comments at Friday's City Club debate smacked of desperation….Plus, it's pathetic for a sitting U.S. senator to allege that in the 1980s, an employee of Sherrod Brown may have eaten a banana laced with marijuana. If you're going down, go down with some class. Don't go down the Ken Blackwell way."  [Plain Dealer 10/29/06]

Columbus Dispatch: Allegations Represent a "Ratcheted-up Personal Attack."  The Columbus Dispatch recently said about DeWine's allegations: "It would seem to indicate that the DeWine campaign believes their candidate is behind, as public polls have shown, heading into the final days of the election and that a ratcheted-up personal attack on Brown is required to win. […] At best, the ad overstates the level of scandal and at worst is misleading about Brown's culpability." [Columbus Dispatch 10/28/06]

After 12 years in the senate, doesn't DeWine owe Ohio more than this? 

Isn't it time for a change? 

(Sherrod)

I'm Sherrod Brown – I approve this message.

Ad Text:

The Facts:

VICKI ALMAY: You've been hearing about drug allegations in Sherrod Brown's office while he was Secretary of State.

FACT: Secretary Of State Sherrod Brown Increased Voter Registration, Reformed Campaign Finance, Put Election Integrity Above Partisanship.

Sherrod Brown Took a Leadership Role in Increasing Voter Turnout. "Mr. Brown has - in office - creatively focused on the voter-turnout problem, which needs attention." [Dayton Daily News,11/5/90]

Under Secretary of State Sherrod Brown, Increases in Voter Registration "Most Extensive and Wide-Ranging in the Nation." "Ohio's burst of voter registration activity [is] probably the most intensive and wide-ranging in the nation…"  [Washington Post, 5/6/84]

Ohio House Passed Brown's Campaign Finance Reform Bill. The House, in an 86-10 vote, approved a measure authored by Ohio secretary of state Sherrod Brown that limits campaign contributions and spending.  [Cincinnati Post, 6/14/90]

Brown Put Integrity of Ohio Elections Above Partisanship; Ruled Against a Fellow Democrat. "With the election for governor less than a month away, Secretary of State Sherrod Brown dealt a blow to fellow Democrat Anthony Celebrezze Jr. on Tuesday: He referred three cases to the Ohio Elections Commission  suggesting that lawyers hired by Celebrezze laundered political donations through relatives and friends."  [Dayton Daily News, 10/10/90]

I thought it was important to come forward and to tell you the truth.

FACT: DeWine Has A History Of Not Telling the Truth.

Plain Dealer: DeWine's Ad "Untrue." "The State of Ohio says the ad's claim is untrue." [Plain Dealer, 10/19/06]

Toledo Blade: DeWine's Ad "Incorrect." "DeWine's attack ad found to be incorrect." [Toledo Blade, 10/19/06]

Cincinnati Enquirer: "State Documents Contradict the Ad's Accusation." [Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/20/06]

DeWine Ignores Truth, Says, "Read My Lips," Stands by False Ad. During the debate in Toledo, DeWine said I about his false ad, "The ad, Sherrod is true. Read my lips: the ad is true." [WTVG Debate, 10/19/06; Toledo Blade, 10/20/06]

DeWine Has Mrs. Broyles Lie About Brown.  DeWine has Audrae Broyles repeat an accusation first raised in an RNC ad 10/17/06, saying, "You didn't pay your outstanding tax bill for 12 years." But state records show that Brown paid his tax bill as soon as he was made aware of it, in early 1994, not in 2005 as the DeWine's ad stated.  [Mike DeWine Ad, "Seniors;" Bureau of Employment Services, Notice of Payment, 4/20/94; Plain Dealer, 10/18/06]

DeWine Submitted to GOP Attack Dogs, Agreed to Campaign of Lies in Last-Ditch Attempt to Save His Career. "The flap over the accuracy of the GOP and DeWine campaign ads comes as he tries to ratchet up his attacks on Brown in a more personal manner. The push comes at the behest of national GOP officials, who are nervous that DeWine is losing a seat key to Republican hopes to hold their Senate majority." The Dispatch reported today that national Republican leaders told DeWine "money is going to go away" if he did not "listen to [his] own people who are harder and stop listening to people who are softer" [Columbus Dispatch, 10/20/06 and 10/19/06]

DeWine Put Soldier At Risk in Campaign Ad. The Army found that an enlisted soldier's appearance in uniform, in a DeWine ad "is counter to Defense Department directives and army policy." [Stars and Stripes, 10/17/06]

DeWine's Attack "Lacks Context." "The incumbent senator's rap against the congressman from Avon, made to voters in a campaign commercial, may not be deserved, according to interviews with lawmakers involved at the time […] the criticism sorely lacks context, they say." [Plain Dealer, 7/22/06]

DeWine Admits Ad on Bipartisanship Misleading. "In an interview after the ad was released, DeWine acknowledged the tax cuts didn't have significant bipartisan support. "It's true in one out of the three examples…" he said." [Associated Press, 8/25/06]

DeWine Anti-Incumbent Ad Fails to Mention DeWine Is Incumbent. "A Republican TV ad in Ohio tries to deflect the increasing anti-incumbent sentiment from Sen. Mike DeWine…It doesn't mention DeWine, or the fact that he's served eight years in the House and 12 years in the Senate." [Associated Press, 8/29/06]

DeWine Campaign Doctored Image of 9/11. "U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine's campaign doctored an image in a televised attack ad to make the World Trade Center appear to be burning, the senator admitted yesterday." In an editorial entitled, "Tough to Airbrush This One Off," the Plain Dealer writes that images of September 11th "are symbols with which one trifles only at great risk.  But trifle is just what DeWine's hired advertising company did when it produced - and the senator's campaign approved - a "graphical representation" (his spokesman's words) that showed smoke billowing from the wrong tower…his campaign produced a historically inaccurate portrayal of the transfiguring event of our time." [Toledo Blade, 7/20/06; Plain Dealer, 7/21/06]

DeWine Aired Ad Accusing John Glenn of Supporting Communism. During his failed bid against American hero and astronaut Senator John Glenn an Ohio newspaper reported the DeWine campaign claiming, "…if Glenn had his way the Berlin Wall still would be standing and former Soviet republics still would be enslaved." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/27/92]

I was a narcotics officer sent undercover to Brown's office and I made a drug buy from one of Brown's employees. Instead of firing her, Sherrod Brown promoted her and he even gave her a raise - that's the kind of person he is. I don't trust Sherrod Brown, and I don't think you should either.

FACT: Sherrod Brown Was The First To Notify Authorities.

Dayton Daily News: Brown "First to Notify" Authorities. "Patrol records do indicate that Brown was the first to notify law-enforcement officials of possible drug use in his office." [Dayton Daily News, 8/21/90]

Columbus Dispatch: Brown Asked for Investigation. "Brown himself in 1985 asked for a State Highway Patrol investigation into whether employees in his office were selling illegal drugs, though no one was charged." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/28/06]

FACT: Major Ohio Newspapers Discredited The Allegations Against Sherrod Brown.

Columbus Dispatch: Allegations Represent a "Ratcheted-up Personal Attack."  The Columbus Dispatch recently said about DeWine's allegations: "It would seem to indicate that the DeWine campaign believes their candidate is behind, as public polls have shown, heading into the final days of the election and that a ratcheted-up personal attack on Brown is required to win. […] At best, the ad overstates the level of scandal and at worst is misleading about Brown's culpability." [Columbus Dispatch, 10/28/06]

Dayton Daily News: Allegations "Junk," "Trumped-Up," "Officially Discredited," and "Full of Baloney." The Dayton Daily News called the allegations against Sherrod Brown "junk," "smut," "sleazy," "trumped-up charges," and "officially discredited." The Dayton Daily News rebuked the Columbus Dispatch's original allegations. "The Columbus Dispatch happens to have been full of baloney."  [Dayton Daily News, 10/18/90; 11/4/90;11/9/90]

Akron Beacon Journal: "No Proof of Impropriety Found in Drug Inquiry in Brown's Office." The Akron Beacon Journal said that there was "no evidence of impropriety" for the charges against Brown. [Akron Beacon Journal, 9/2/90]

FACT: Major Ohio Newspapers Reported That Investigation Was Not Handled Properly.

Highway Patrol Accepted Fault for Withholding Information. "The patrol has accepted fault for not telling prosecutors about a mid-August 1985 drug buy." [Akron Beacon Journal, 9/2/90]

DEWINE: I'm Mike DeWine and I approved this message.

Volunteer opportunities are available across the state.

Click here to find out how you can help in your area. 

Read the facts behind this ad.

Read more. Get involved.